Drug baggies on church steps :(

This is the collection I found on the steps yesterday (43rd Ave near 72nd Street), along with a big empty bottle of Beam...

And this is the collection I found this morning, along with a can of Bud in the flowers:(

Nice things here too edition: The Community Garden

Behold: The Community Garden on Woodside Avenue and 72nd Street!

I don't know who is responsible for this garden, but I am very grateful to this person. This is an oasis in the desert of filth and muck. It looks so out of place, actually, amidst sidewalks strewn with litter (it's on Woodside Ave, not 43rd, so we're talking litter of the food wrapper variety, not used condoms, blunts, and drug baggies, but still!). Anyway, thank you, wonderful (and talented) gardener(s?)! Your work goes a long way towards improving our quality of life. Plus, it's real perty to look at.

There's filth on 74th, but some beauty nearby

Yet another example of the care and respect (for self and neighbors) displayed by this building's residents. Thank you!

And below is yet another Elmhurst "water" balloon that I passed yesterday. Unlike most, this baggy wasn't even sealed.

Elmhurst Water Balloon

Speaking of baggies, I collected no fewer than TEN drug bags on 43rd Avenue between 72nd and 74th Streets on Saturday. Only a couple were large enough to hold weed; the rest were tiny, multicolored bags that I assume held something much stronger. So for all of the people who say I'm a whiney beeyach for complaining about "just some kids smoking pot"- sorry, but the majority of drugs that are used around here are not pot (based on the evidence that I collect).

 

Also, as of Saturday, August 8, there was a pile of about 8 oddly-shaped and too-heavy-to-life black trash bags dumped on 43rd Avenue near 72nd Street (construction dumping?). I called it in that night (2015LKG06076). What is wrong with people? The worst part is, people threw random litter (bags of takeout food, etc) on top, to flutter away in the wind. Why? Why?

 

In general, my faith in humanity is waning. But there are SOME decent people who seem to not want to live in filth, and who actually want to make things look nice. For instance, some good resident of a building with a concrete "lawn" managed to cultivate these beautiful flowers.

Gorgeous fleurs on Woodside Ave in the 70s

 

And another local resident, on Woodside Avenue in the 70s, added these accents to the front of their building (which was glaringly lacking in litter too, compared to their neighbors' domiciles). So at least SOME people have pride, dignity, self respect, and appreciate the little things that can make life so much better (ie, keeping the property clean and even planting some flowers here and there).

 



 Thank you, neighbors who give a sh*t!!! You save me from utter despair!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

UPDATE: Regarding the pile of mystery garbage bags left on 43rd Avenue: the DSNY picked them up within a day or two of my call to 311. THANK YOU DSNY! You all are the best! And, see, calling 311 does work. Please, if you see a dump pile, call it in. It only takes a few minutes, and it keeps the neighborhood livable. Thank you everyone!!

Why don't folks care as much about clean streets as they do about clean ears?

 

If I had to say which item I find littered on the streets of OGCLE territory more than any other, it is the Q-tip (or off-brand cotton-tipped swab). At first I thought these must have fallen out of garbage bags/cans when people put their trash out. It's unlikely, but what is the alternative?- that people walk around cleaning their ears in public? I've never actually witnessed a Q-tip in use on the streets, but they are EVERYWHERE. Here are photos of a couple that I passed just this morning walking one block. WTF??!?! 

 

So maybe people aren't using them to perform ear hygiene. The only other use for them that I know of is to apply make-up. But I've never seen any that have make-up on them. So what's the deal-a-roo?!? (actually, I probably do not want to know).

A Q-tip blooms

Yummy, this one looks well used.

 

In case you're wondering, the second most common item I find all over the streets and sidewalks is the used dental pick. Gross as it is, it makes a little more sense- I mean, people could be coming from restaurants and picking the remnants of dinner out of their teeth. Of course, flossing in public and then tossing the used pick on the sidewalk is disgusting. But it makes more sense than cleaning your ears in public.

Nothing should surprise me anymore.

FWIW, I did pluck up these two Q-tips after photographing them. Some bloggers photograph this kind of stuff and just leave it there, and they get their blogs featured in Gothamist and other local news outlets. I'm not bitter though, really I'm not!* (*That's a little CBT I'm performing on myself; I'll let you know if it works.) Hey, the person who picks up a stranger's used hygiene products has a right to be bitter.

Here's a funny thing that happened recently though. The other night I was b*tching to my poor husband about this while we were exiting the train station (which always has quite a collection of Q-tips and dental picks). I said, "Why do people leave dental picks and Q-tips all over the place?!?" and a man walking by, without skipping a beat, said, "Oh, those are mine, sorry." Har har. Actually, I did laugh out loud when he said that; but overall, the situation is a sad, pathetic reflection on human behavior.